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INGenIOuS

About INGenIOuS

The INGenIOuS (Investing in the Next Generation through Innovative and Outstanding Strategies) project, a collaboration among mathematics and statistics professional societies and the National Science Foundation, culminated in a July 2013 workshop devoted to identifying and envisioning programs and strategies for increasing the flow of mathematical sciences students into the workforce pipeline. This report describes findings and outcomes of that workshop.

The INGenIOuS project demonstrated that stakeholders across the mathematical sciences community can successfully collaborate on workforce development issues. It highlighted existing efforts and drew on the collective wisdom of a diverse group of participants. Perhaps the INGenIOuS platform, suitably enlarged or modified, can launch future initiatives. Research indicates that a single coordinated effort supported by major players from all existing sectors is more effective in achieving significant and lasting change in any area than is simply an array of new programs and organizations. A key strategy is to invest in the creation of a strong backbone organization, develop common agendas and language, work toward agreed upon metrics of success, facilitate communication, and support evidence-based modifications of existing programs and efforts.

We acknowledge that changing established practices can be difficult and painful. Changing cultures of departments, institutions, and organizations can be even harder. But there is reason for optimism. In mathematical sciences research we are always willing, even eager, to replace mediocre or "somewhat successful" strategies with better ones. In that open-minded spirit we invite the mathematical sciences community to view this call to action as a promising opportunity to live up to our professional responsibilities by improving workforce preparation.

Director

Paul Zorn

Born and raised in India, Paul Zorn is a professor of mathematics at St. Olaf College, where he has taught for over 30 years. His PhD, in several complex variables, is from the University of Washington, Seattle. His professional interests include complex analysis, mathematical exposition, textbook writing, and the role of mathematics among the liberal arts. His 1986 paper "The Bieberbach Conjecture" was awarded the 1987 Carl B. Allendoerfer Award for mathematical exposition. He has co-authored several calculus textbooks with his St. Olaf colleague, Arnold Ostebee. His most recent book is Understanding Real Analysis (AK Peters, 2010). From 1996 to 2000, he was editor of Mathematics Magazine, and he recently completed a 2-year term, 2011-12, as President of the Mathematical Association of America.

Steering Committee

John Bailer

John Bailer is University Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Statistics at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA. His undergraduate degrees in Mathematics & Statistics and in Psychology are from Miami University. He joined Miami University as a faculty member in 1988 after completing a PhD in biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a postdoc/staff fellow position at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. In addition to his main departmental home, he is an affiliate member of the Department of Biology, Department of Sociology & Gerontology, the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability and he is a Scripps Research Fellow in the Scripps Gerontology Center. His research interests include quantitative risk estimation and the design and analysis of data from environmental toxicology studies, occupational health studies and gerontology studies. He currently serves as an elected member of the board of directors of the American Statistical Association and as a council member of the International Statistical Institute, and he has served on a number of National Research Council committees on topics ranging from spacecraft exposure guidelines to the toxicologic assessment of low-level exposures to chemical warfare agents to improving risk analysis approaches used the US EPA.

Linda Braddy

Linda Braddy is Deputy Executive Director of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and oversees MAA programs, including Project NExT and the American Mathematics Competitions, the Meetings and Facilities Department, and public policy efforts. Prior to joining the MAA in 2012, she served as dean of the Division of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Tarrant County College in Texas after serving as chair of the Department of Mathematics at East Central University in Oklahoma where she was a tenured, full professor. She received her Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Oklahoma and her research area is undergraduate mathematics education.

James M. Crowley

James is the Executive Director of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). Prior to coming to SIAM he served in positions in the US Air Force, including Assistant Chief Scientist at the Air Force Systems Command. He was the program manager for the Applied and Computational Mathematics program at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and served as the head of the directorate for Mathematics and Information Sciences at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Prior to that, he was also a tenured associate professor at the US Air Force Academy and worked as a mathematician in Air Force laboratories. Jim received his PhD in Applied Mathematics from Brown University. His areas of interest include mathematical control theory and scientific computing.

Irene Fonseca

Irene Fonseca’s work combines research, teaching and training at the interface between pure and applied analysis. Her teaching record spans from teaching large Calculus classes to lecturing small, advanced graduate-level topics courses.

Since 1998 Irene Fonseca is the Director of the (NSF funded) Center for Nonlinear Analysis in the Department of Mathematical Sciences which primary focus is research and training in applied mathematics, at the broad interface between mathematics and the physical science and engineering. Her research program includes the mathematical study of shape memory alloys, ferroelectric, magnetic materials, composites, liquid crystals, thin structures, phase transitions, and image segmentation and recolorization in computer vision.

Ellen J. Maycock

Ellen J. Maycock has been the Associate Executive Director for Meetings and Professional Services at the American Mathematical Society (AMS) since 2005. In that capacity, she oversees the Meetings and Conferences Department, the Membership and Programs Department and the Public Awareness Office. In addition to managing her internal administrative duties, Maycock works with AMS volunteers on a number of projects and two AMS policy committees, the Committee on the Profession and the Committee on Meetings and Conferences. She oversees the NSF-funded Mathematics Research Communities, a program to help early career mathematicians begin their research careers. Maycock received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from Wellesley College and earned a Ph.D. in mathematics at Purdue University, with a dissertation on operator algebras, written under the direction of Jerome Kaminker. In 1988, she joined the faculty at DePauw University and became a full professor there in 2001. In recognition of her outstanding record of sustained excellence in teaching, service, and professional accomplishment, DePauw University appointed Maycock as a University Professor in 2002.

Dalene Stangl

Dalene Stangl is Professor of the Practice of Statistical Science and Public Policy at Duke University. Her research interests are statistics education reform and the development and application of Bayesian methods in health-related research and policy. She is an ASA Fellow, and has served as an Editor for Journal of the American Statistical Association, The American Statistician, Bayesian Analysis, and Chance. She has published widely and co-edited two books: Meta-Analysis in Medicine and Health Policy and Bayesian Biostatistics. She has served as Director of the Institute of Statistics and Decision Sciences and Associate Chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies of the Department of Statistical Science. She has Chaired the ASA's Section on Bayesian Statistical Science, the Caucus of Academic Representatives, and the Committee on Women in Statistics.

Peter R. Turner

Peter R. Turner, dean of the Clarkson University School of Arts and Sciences, is a fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). Fellowship honors SIAM members who have made outstanding contributions to the fields served by the organization. Turner was selected for his leadership in advancing applied mathematical education, including the creation of SIAM Undergraduate Research Online. Turner, also a professor of mathematics at Clarkson, has participated in and organized several outreach activities on behalf of SIAM, including the SIAM-NSF Modeling across the Curriculum initiative, SIAM partnership with the Museum of Mathematics, and SIAM participation in USA Science and Engineering Festivals. He also chaired the working group that produced the SIAM Report on undergraduate computational science and engineering education. Turner\'s research interests are in computer arithmetic, level-index system, functional analysis, optimization, numerical analysis, parallel processing, computer vision, and computer algebra.

Ron Wasserstein

Ron Wasserstein is the Executive Director of the American Statistical Association, a position he has held since 2007. His primary responsibility is stated succinctly in the ASA’s tagline: “Promoting the Practice and Profession of Statistics.” For the 23 years prior to that, he was a faculty member and academic administrator at Washburn University. From 2000-2007, he served as Washburn’s Vice President for Academic Affairs. He earned the Ph.D. in Statistics from Kansas State University. Wasserstein is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.